Shakespeare’s New Place: One Year On

Celebrating its first anniversary with a community party

14 Aug 2017

His Mind's Eye

Shakespeare’s New Place, the newly interpreted
site of Shakespeare’s family home for 19 years, will be celebrating its first anniversary on 20th August with a free community
party filled with fun activities and live performances.

To celebrate the paper anniversary the British
Origami Society will be on hand to run origami workshops throughout the day. Other
fun activities include live music from Bukechi
in the Great Garden, as well as a magician and face painter to entertain the
children. For grown-ups, there’s free gin tasting courtesy of local artisan gin
makers, Shakespeare Distillery, and free biscuits for all visitors - while
stocks last.
Stratford-upon-Avon residents (CV37) and emergency services employees* and
their families can visit New Place for free.

Shakespeare’s New Place opened last summer as a
major new heritage landmark and cultural destination following a two-year, £6m
capital project to re-present the site of Shakespeare’s family home marking the
400th anniversary of his death. Over the past 12 months nearly 150,000
visitors from all over the world have walked through the grand oak and bronze
gatehouse to explore the site where Shakespeare’s home once stood, admiring the
gleaming contemporary artworks, beautiful gardens and discovering the story of
Shakespeare’s adult life through daily talks and trails, and in the exhibition
centre.

Chloe Malendewicz, Manager at Shakespeare’s
New Place, said, “New Place is a seamless blend of the historic and the
contemporary, offering visitors a complete contrast to anything they will find
in Stratford-upon-Avon, or indeed the world. We’ve had a great first year
welcoming visitors and local residents, many have returned again and again to
enjoy this tranquil little oasis in the heart of Stratford. We have a great day
planned and look forward to welcoming visitors and families for what promises
to be a fun day of celebrations.”

The re-opening of this historic site created
22 permanent and part-time roles, with 47 volunteers regularly donating their
time to support the day-to-day operations, from welcoming visitors and giving
informative talks about the history of the site, to facilitating fun family
activities and tending to the gardens.

New Place serves as a canvas for new and
experimental artistic initiatives, including the Garden of Curious A-muse-ments
last winter, and several outdoor theatre performances by local and
international community groups. There will be an exciting line up of events for
visitors to enjoy including outdoor screenings of The Lion King and Omkar - a
Bollywood adaptation of Othello as
part of the Shakespeare Film Festival, and an immersive winter festival due to take
place later this year.

It is the
first of the Trust’s property portfolio that is fully accessible to the
physically disabled, with gradient landscaping, wider footpaths to accommodate
wheelchair and buggy users and a lift in the exhibition centre to access the
second floor. Shakespeare’s New Place is also a Dementia-friendly venue.

Shakespeare’s New Place – One Year On runs
from 12pm – 4pm on Sunday, 20th August. For more information and to plan you visit, see www.shakespeare.org.uk.

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Shakespeare's New Place

Walk in Shakespeare’s footsteps and meet the man behind the works.

The independent charity that cares for the world’s greatest Shakespeare heritage sites in Stratford-upon-Avon, and promotes the enjoyment and understanding of his works, life and times all over the world. Celebrating Shakespeare is at the heart of everything we do.